SMU has developed a series of foreign steel import reports that enable steel buyers and company executives to see exactly how much imported steel has entered their immediate vicinity and where it came from. This series of reports includes hot rolled, cold rolled, Hot Dipped Galvanized, other metallic coated (mainly Galvalume) as well as semi-finished […]
Steel Market Update received the following letter to the editor from David Phelps, past president of the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS): John, after now over 35 years of watching the steel market and all its ups and downs, I have developed at least some non-infallable thoughts about market ups and downs. Your October […]
Licensed data for September was updated on October 6th through the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department. The SMU publishes several import reports ranging from this very early look using licensed data to the very detailed analysis of final volumes by district of entry and source nation which is available to our […]
A debate has begun as to when flat rolled steel prices will bottom and begin to reverse course. Part of that dialogue is what will supply look like should US Steel go through with balancing their production by temporarily taking down their Granite City Works. This would be on top of the trade suits which […]
The following article is written by Spencer Johnson of FC Stone LLC. With six years of experience, Spencer provides his customers strategic and tactical advice on protecting themselves against commodity price volatility in the steel markets. Spencer will rotate weekly futures articles with Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk, LLC. Spencer can be reached at spencer.johnson@intlfcstone.com. […]
The American Institute for International Steel attributes Canada’s struggling economy to the weak rise in U.S. steel exports. Canada buys about half of all of the steel that is shipped out of the U.S., according to AIIS. The August 2015 Steel Exports Press Release from AIIS follows: Falls Church, VA. October 8, 2015. Steel exports […]
In the first eight months of this year bulk scrap exports were 8.801,000 tonnes for an annual rate of 13,202,000 tonnes, down by 15.4 percent from the first eight months of last year. The tonnages shown in Figure 1 are based on three month moving averages for 2015 and on the twelve month monthly average […]
Flat rolled steel prices were mixed over this past week based on data reported in our survey as well as the channel checks we were able to make during these past two hectic days. We are aware of offers on hot rolled under $400 per ton but we have not reported the numbers as readily […]
The U.S. is not (yet) a closed market and therefore we have to remain aware of what is going on around the rest of the world and especially in China (iron ore/billets/steel) and Turkey (scrap). Ferrous scrap prices are expected to drop significantly for October 2015 shipment. When we checked with a couple of our […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released new license data for the month of September and the latest number for foreign steel imports is 2,891,217 tons (net tons). September appears poised to drop 224,000 tons below the August number. The September license data was released at the same time the US DOC reported Final Census Data […]
For the week ending October 3, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,727,000 net tons of raw steel, a 0.5 percent decrease over the previous week and a 7.3 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 72.2 percent, down […]
According to the various flat rolled steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update, hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and plate prices continue to be weak this past week. Benchmark hot rolled was the most stable with all four indexes reporting last week. SMU and Platts were showing the HRC average as being $430 per […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) recently reported final raw steel production estimates for the month of August 2015. The monthly estimates are different than the weekly estimates we report in our Tuesday issues; the AISI bases the monthly estimates on 75 percent of the domestic mills reporting vs. only 50 percent for the […]
AIIS reports that steel imports in August dropped a significant 8.2 percent from July to total 3.02 million tons. The biggest reductions were seen in imports from the EU, Mexico and China. AIIS says the decline in steel purchase is a harbinger of slower growth for construction and the economy. The press release from AIIS […]
The following article is written by Spencer Johnson of FC Stone LLC. With six years of experience, Spencer provides his customers strategic and tactical advice on protecting themselves against commodity price volatility in the steel markets. Spencer will rotate weekly futures articles with Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk, LLC. Spencer can be reached at spencer.johnson@intlfcstone.com. […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) sources reported the domestic steel mills have canceled any remaining ferrous scrap tonnage that was not delivered during the month of September. This is normal when the mills believe that they will be able to negotiate lower prices for October delivery. As reported earlier this week, the expectation is for scrap […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the spread between world hot rolled export prices as determined by SteelBenchmarker and domestic (US) hot rolled prices as published by SMU. Steel Market Update compares the world hot rolled export price to which dollars are added for freight, handling, trader margin, etc. The number […]
Steel imports to Mexico will see a 15 percent increase in tariffs for the next six months. The government said it will impose the temporary increase on imports from countries that do not have a free-trade agreement with Mexico in an attempt to stem the surge of low-priced imports flooding the country. Canacero, the Mexican […]
United Steel Workers at Cliffs Natural Resources have agreed to extend their labor contract for 30 days beginning on Oct. 1, along with a rolling 168-hour extension if talks exceed 30 days. The USW bargaining committee says it has made progress on some issues but “remain far apart on many others.” The committee is returning […]
Flat rolled steel prices remained “flexible” over the past week. During our conversations with steel buyers (and steel mills) we learned that the best prices were being offered on tonnage tied to an actual order. One of the big issues we face as we try to develop fair and reasonable price ranges is how do […]
Both manufacturing companies and flat rolled steel service centers reported the percentage of distributors offering lower spot pricing on flat rolled steels as growing. This is a key indicator followed by Steel Market Update (and no other publication) as falling spot prices out of the distributors are usually due to high inventories leading to competitive […]
After zinc spot pricing peaked in May of this year at $1.10 per pound, it has been steadily moving lower, closing at $0.7363 per pound at the end of trading on Monday, September 28th. Steel Market Update has been writing about the drop in spot LME zinc (as well as aluminum which impacts Galvalume, Aluminized […]
As the Oct. 1 contract deadline approaches, labor negotiations at Cliffs Natural Resources are slowly progressing. The USW bargaining committee presented a proposal on Sept. 19 to the company which was discussed at meetings on Sept. 25. “We are beginning to see some progress and top table talks will continue through the weekend,” said the […]
For the week ending September 26, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,735,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.7 percent increase over the previous week but a 7.6 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 72.6 percent, up […]
Last week three of the four steel indices followed by Steel Market Update reported flat rolled steel price averages for the week. We saw large double digit declines in the CRU on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized while Platts only saw movement in hot rolled. Steel Market Update captured declines in hot rolled, cold […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released August Preliminary Census Data showing August imports as being 3,016,157 net tons (2.7 million metric tons). August imports are down 200,000 tons compared to July and were below both the 3 month and 12 month moving averages. When looking at flat rolled items we found a small reduction in […]
AISI: WASHINGTON, D.C. – American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) President and CEO Thomas J. Gibson today urged President Obama to “fight for manufacturing and for steel” during the U.S. visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping this week. Gibson said his group wholeheartedly supports the positions outlined in letters sent this week to the Administration […]
Ferrous scrap prices continue to weaken due to sluggish demand at the domestic steel mills coupled with a lack of exports off the East Coast USA to Turkey. Turkish scrap prices have tumbled over the past thirty days, down $46 per ton or nearly 20 percent compared to last month. An 80/20 HMS mix is […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), iron ore and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk LLC and our Managing Price Risk I & II instructor. Here is how Andre saw trading over the past week: Financial Markets: Basis last reporting of improving markets […]
Flat rolled steel buyers reported a weakening flat rolled steel market this week. Large buyers are now able to buy spot hot rolled at $410-$420 per ton with medium sized buyers seeing prices closer to $420-$440 per ton. We are seeing cold rolled and coated products as doing a little better as they have been […]